Falklands War

With Christian faith I pray that those who are today our adversaries may understand their error in time and may deeply reflect before persisting in a stance which is rejected by all the free peoples in the world and by all those who had their territory mutiliated and endured colonialism and exploitation. - Leopoldo Galtieri

The Falklands War was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The United Kingdom had held the Falklands since 1831, but in support of a long-standing territorial claim, Argentinian president Leopoldo Galtieri ordered an invasion on 2 April. The British government under Margaret Thatcher dispatched a naval task force which succeeded in taking back control of the islands on 14 June; 649 Argentine and 258 British forces were killed in the war, along with three Falkland Island civilians.

With Christian faith I pray that those who are today our adversaries may understand their error in time and may deeply reflect before persisting in a stance which is rejected by all the free peoples in the world and by all those who had their territory mutiliated and endured colonialism and exploitation.

Newsweek front page (19 April 1982) in reference to the British Empire.

What really thrilled me, having spent so much of my lifetime in Parliament, and talking about things like inflation, Social Security benefits, housing problems, environmental problems and so on, is that when it really came to the test, what's thrilled people wasn't those things, what thrilled people was once again being able to serve a great cause, the cause of liberty.

Often misquoted as: "When you've spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment, it's exciting to have a real crisis on your hands."

What an unlikely pair of antagonists! The British have always fought, to be sure. No nation on Earth can be taken seriously in historical circles unless it has had at least one war with the British; it's like not having an American Express card. And yet the very idea of Britain in a contemporary war is a shock. Britain, one feels, fights in history books and not on TV.

Gene Wolfe, "A Few Points About knife Throwing", Fantasy Newsletter (1983), as reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days (1992)